It would be hard to think of two more life-affirming, gripping
or simply thoroughly enjoyable chamber works than these two
Piano Quintets. The combination of piano and string quartet
is one notoriously difficult to get right but both composers
managed in these works to find a way that worked for their particular
musical styles, even if it does require some effort and imagination
from the players to match their various demands in that respect.

Clearly the players on this disc have put in that effort, and
throughout it is obvious that every bar and every phrase has
been carefully considered. The opening of the Dvořàk,
for instance, has an irresistible lilt to the rhythm in the
piano part and a subtle phrasing of the initial cello melody.
Once all the strings enter, however, the slight hesitations
or adjustments to tempo, the liberal use of portamento
and the occasionally overdone phrasing sounds to my ears more
mannered or applied than spontaneous. This impression is confirmed
when similar effects are adopted in the repeat of the first
part of that movement rather than taking advantage of the repetition
to vary the presentation of the musical material. I must however
give them due credit for taking that essential repeat. So it
goes on, and I found myself alternately loving the collective
imagination clearly at work throughout and feeling that the
very interventionist approach is simply unnecessary here.

Many earlier versions have shown that being more straightforward
can and does work - for instance I have a particular regard
for the recording of the Dvořàk by the Nash Ensemble
on Virgin Classics which demonstrates this very clearly but
there are many more that make the same point.

Having said that, there is so much pleasure to be gained from
this disc that it is not possible to dismiss it out of hand.
Indeed I could understand that some, maybe many, listeners would
actually prefer these fresh-sounding and exceptionally clearly
recorded accounts of both works. The Schumann is perhaps the
more successful of the two and is the one to which I am most
likely to return. It is good to hear such thoroughly prepared
and thoughtful performances even if in the end I feel that a
less is more approach would greatly improve them.

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